Abstract

My PhD thesis Changing Social and Cultural Identities in a Border Area. The
Case of Pre-Imperial and Early Imperial Sichuan discusses the funerary remains of the
Sichuan region dated from the Warring States period to the Western Han dynasty (V-I
cent. BC.) My research specifically addresses issues of identity, boundaries and social
interaction, immediately prior to and during the early incorporation of the region into
the empire, as well as the relevance of these concepts for the interpretation of global
trends and local variations identified in the archaeological record. My aims were on the
one hand to question the attribution of specific cultural traits to distinct "archaeological
cultures", as the local "Ba" and "Shu" cultures", and on the other hand to detect from the
discontinuities of the archaeological record the existence of cross-cutting and
overlapping social and cultural identities.
The research entails a qualitative and quantitative analysis of a dataset composed
of around 300 burials and their grave goods assemblages recorded in Chinese
publications and field records. Special attention was given to the use and association of
different burial types, specific classes of items (pottery, bronze weapons, bronze
vessels, bronze objects, ornaments, seals, iron and lacquer), and distinct decorative
motifs on weapons. The patterns identified in the temporal and spatial variability of the
selected funerary elements have suggested the existence of a complex social landscape,
characterised by various horizontal and vertical differentiations within and between
sites, and by the presence and interaction of different social and cultural groups
involved in a process of adjustment, negotiation and redefinition of their own identities.
This overall picture is opposed to a more classical and culture-historical perspective
which tends to explain variability in the region with the existence of different
"archaeological cultures".

Type:

Thesis
(Doctoral)

Title:

Changing cultural and social identities in a border area: the case of Pre-Imperial and early Imperial Sichuan (V-I cent. BC)

Open access status:

An open access version is available from UCL Discovery

Language:

English

Additional information:

Thesis digitised by British Library EThOS. The original pages 7 to 62 from Volume 2 have been excluded due to third party copyright.